Tagged

I was tagged by Mom, who was tagged by Nanny.

The deal is: there are five questions to answer. And then there are two people to tag.

The questions are:
1. What were you doing ten years ago?
I was six months into my career. The first account I worked on (an internet service provider) was just about to go away, and I was about to begin one of the best experiences I've had in advertising by joining the Chick-fil-A team. I was living on my own for the first time in my life - learning how to take care of myself and manage my budget on a starting salary. Student loans were kicking in, and every time I went to the store I had to ask myself if the item I was looking at was a need or a want. I was gaining confidence in my ability to take care of myself and succeed at my job. All the while, I was dating the love of my life - who I would marry three years later - and life was good. Life is still good.

2. Five things on my to-do list
This week's laundry

Take the full-size bed out of Alex's room

Sand/paint/stain the little coffee table I got in Canton for $99

Sort through the many junk mail piles

Hang curtains in the guest bedroom

3. Snacks I enjoy
Cupcakes from Society Bakery in Dallas - YUM!
Snickers with Almonds
Buckaroos from Sheridan's (so sad Sheridan's closed down - the Buckaroos were the best. Buckaroos are frozen vanilla custard with bananas, strawberries and hot fudge)

4. Places I have lived
Colorado City, TX
Shreveport, LA
Longview, TX
Denton, TX
Dallas, TX
Frisco, TX
Roanoke, VA
And one day...Texas again!

5. Five things I would do if I were a billionaire
Hmmm. It's hard to imagine having that much money. First things first - move back to Texas. And live debt free. I'd travel - on my own private jet - to anywhere in the world with my family. I'd also give money to a ministry that Jerry and I support called Parenting Alone.

I know the rules are to tag two people, but I'm breaking the rules and tagging three. Dana, Lauri, and Kat - tag, you're it!

Halloween Horror Story

People. Would you please look at what my mommy let happen? She went to put my pumpkin costume on me this morning and EEEK!! It didn't fit! Now I'm costume-less. What a horror! That's no way to celebrate Halloween - especially your very first one.

Lucky for me, Aunt LiLi gave me this pumpkin shirt. Little did she know that her shirt would save the day.

My Sweet Little Thumb-Sucker

From time to time, I like to send Noni her very own special photos to use on her blog. These are pictures I set aside just for her that I do not post on my blog.

The other day I sent her this photo, but I couldn't resist making a post with it myself. (Sorry, Mom! I'll get you some other proprietary photos soon, I promise!)

Three and a half months in, and Alex has become a regular little thumb sucker. I'm not sure why he started sucking his thumb when he's got a perfectly good paci that would be an easier bad habit to break. Maybe this will just be a phase...

Sunday Afternoon Drive

I love fall. What I mean to say is I LOVE FALL!

To me, no other season even comes close. And this fall has been spectacular in Virginia. The mountains around Roanoke are just blanketed in red, yellow and orange magnificence.

Today, Jerry, Alex and I took a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We drove about an hour and a half south to a winery called Chateau Morrisette where we had brunch.

We went with our friends Kevin and Kendra.

When we got there, you could smell the fire from the wood-burning fireplace. There's nothing like that smell. The air was crisp. The view was breathtaking. The sun was shining. I definitely got "the feeling." (I can't really describe "the feeling," but if you've ever had it, you know it. Kat, I wish you could have been here - you would have loved it.)

So here I am, soaking in the smells of autumn, enjoying the sunshine and cool temperatures, thinking that it just couldn't get any better. But I'd be wrong. Because then I got a little hot cocoa to warm my insides.

And food from one of the best buffets I've ever eaten at. Oh my!

After we ate, we went to the gift shop and tasting room where they were all decorated up for fall.

On our way home, we stopped at a couple of lookout points on the Parkway to take in the view and snap some photos.

And Little Man found his thumb and drifted off to sleep. He'd had a busy day.

A Favorite

The other night Little Man and I took a walk around the neighborhood. I turned down the road that would take me past my favorite row of houses, and I just had to stop and get a picture of this little beauty. Isn't she lovely?

Alex Enjoys his Exersaucer

Alex has graduated to his exersaucer.

He can only stay in it for a couple of minutes at a time because he doesn't have quite enough upper body control. We stuff a little blanket in there around him to help give him some stability.

He's just figuring out how to reach for and grab the toys on the side. So he should really be going at it in another few weeks. Look how curious he is.

My Two Favorite Guys

Tomorrow my two favorite guys and I are taking a little road trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway to enjoy the fall foliage. I will be taking my camera, and hopefully we will get some wonderful shots of the trees. We're having one of the most beautiful falls I've ever seen. I love it!

Fun Little Project

Several weeks ago my mom hinted at a project she and I worked on while she was here visiting us. The project was curtains for the kitchen. I've been holding off posting the "reveal" because I had high hopes of doing a little more decorating in that space to pull everything together for my photograph. But that has yet to happen. So here's a little peak at one more piece of progress in the kitchen.

More to come one of these days.

Photo Session - The Professional Kind

Last weekend we had a local photographer come out to take some photos of Alex. Liz has taken some really beautiful shots of babies and children, and I was very excited when Jerry found her website.

So I called Liz a few weeks ago to book a session. And for weeks I've been fretting: I hope Alex doesn't have a bad case of baby acne that day. I hope Alex will be happy enough to let us put a couple of different outfits on him. I hope Alex doesn't spit up all over the outfits we put him in. I hope he doesn't have the little dry skin crusties he tends to get on his eyelids and eyebrows. Most importantly, I hope he's happy that day.

Now, I know that it does no good to worry. It doesn't get you anywhere, and you can't do anything about it. But a good photographer costs good money. And I wanted my money's worth.

Alex didn't care about the money. He didn't care how much I wanted the photos. All he cared about was fussing, fussing, fussing and getting a nap. He wanted no part of any of the photo session that day. Sigh.

Jerry and I worked so hard to entertain Little Man that day. Well, mostly Jerry. And because of his hard work, Liz has assured me that she got a few shots. I haven't seen everything, but I did get this little sneak peek she sent us.


Looks like an angel here, doesn't he? You'd never know that he'd been crying most of the time. Little stinker!

Major Milestone

Yea, Alex! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you for making your first full night of sleep!



Friday night - 8:30p - 6a
Saturday night - 8:30p - 5a
Monday night - 8:30p - 6:15a

Woo hoo!! We've had three nights of great sleep!

UPDATED COMMENT:
I'm not sure what I think about sleep training. We weren't hard core with Alex. I am more of a believer in watching for the patterns and signs of progress that he has going on and pushing him a little bit further in support of where I want him to be heading.

For example, for a while he would get up and eat around 1:30a and 4:30a. When I noticed him eating less and falling back asleep while he was eating, I figured that the next step would be coming soon. So one night he woke up at 2a, and he was only fussing - not really crying. So we tried giving him his paci to see if he would go back to sleep rather than eat. And he did. But only for an hour. Again at 3, we gave him the paci. And again at 4. Finally at 5 I fed him and then put him back down. We did this for two nights and then he started sleeping through the night.

Now if Alex were still eating strong during the night, and I felt like he really needed that, then I wouldn't have just let him cry it out. I think it has worked best for us if we take small steps of progress rather than trying to leap into the next phase. We're all a little happier that way. =)

Cure for Boredom

Humph. I'm bored.

Wait. What's that?

Oh! I can do those moves.

Shake it to the left. Shake it to the right.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. That was fun.

Ok. I'm bored again.

Watching Baby Einstein

See? He loves this stuff.

14 Weeks

On Wednesday Alex turned 14 weeks old. He's a happy baby.


A really happy baby.


These days he's quite interested in his hands. He looks at them. He clasps them together, puts both of his fists in his mouth, and just sucks away. It's funny to watch.


He also uses his arm to push his paci back in when it starts to fall out. He's talented, this one.

He can hold his head up really well. So we've started putting him in his Bumbo seat more often. Just the other day, we sat him in there while he watched his first Baby Einstein video. He loved that video. Watched the whole thing. He got tired of sitting in the Bumbo in the middle of the video, so we moved him to his swing, but he still kept watching till the very end.

He's losing lots of his baby hair. Whenever we give him his baths, we always scrub his scalp with his little hair brush to help with the cradle cap, and hair comes out like you wouldn't believe. I almost took a picture of it, but I figured that might be kind of gross to post.

Alex has also developed a new cry. It's actually a bit more like a whine. It's funny to hear, but Jerry and I are not fans of whining.

He's just starting to grab for toys. And they go straight to his mouth.

He drools. A lot. Every morning when we get him ready to go to Miss Mary Anne's house, we have to strap a bib on him to keep his clothes dry.


When he's on his back, he's starting to roll on his side.


We've started some sleep training. I use this term loosely. When I say sleep training, I mean we've stopped feeding him in the middle of the night. He still cries - more like fusses - so we'll go in to give him his paci, and he goes back to sleep for another hour or two. It's the same routine from 2:30a until about 5:30 or 6a. In the next few days, I think we'll start letting him cry it out for good. I dread those nights.

Speaking of sleeping, this is the first (and only) nap he's ever taken where he just fell asleep on his play mat. Without being held. Without crying. Without being swaddled. It was a rare occurance.


Alex really seems to like his time at Miss Mary Anne's. He's got two friends, David and Parker, who like to play with him. Miss Mary Anne sends us pictures all throughout the day, and I LOVE it! Especially when I get ones of him smiling.

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

I love the pumpkin patch. Especially this year with Alex. It's great for making fun memories. And photos like this.

This is my new favorite picture of Alex. I have this picture as the wallpaper on my phone. And I push the button to turn my phone on all throughout the day just to see his sweet little face.

Last Sunday we spent the afternoon at Layman Family Farm pumpkin patch.

The weather was fantastic. The neat thing about this farm is that they have a GIANT corn maze that is in the shape of a Lincoln Penny.


Alex didn't care about the maze, but he was curious about the pumpkins.


And he loves being outside so we had a fun time.



Happy Fall Y'all!

Chatter and Smiles

Back to Work

Last week I returned to work from maternity leave. Jerry was nice enough to take a few days off to travel back to Texas with me so that I could work from the office in Dallas. Normally I don't need Jerry to travel with me, but seeing as how this was Alex's first plane ride, I wasn't ready to go solo with him.

Knowing that Alex was with my mom and Jerry during the day helped me ease back into the swing of things with greater peace of mind. I had no worries during the day.

But this week is harder. Alex has begun going to Miss Mary Anne's full time since I'm back in Roanoke. Miss Mary Anne is the lady who watches him in her home. I was so excited to come home tonight and see my Little Man. And as if seeing him weren't enough of a treat, my neighbor (who has a one-year old son and has faced returning to work herself) knocked on my door just minutes after I got home to bring me this...



A box of delicious mini cupcakes from Bubblecakes (our local little cupcake shop). How thoughtful is that?! Thank you, Katy. Your thoughtfulness just made my day.

Things I Love

I love everything about my sweet little man.

Like the funny faces he makes when he's drifting in and out of sleep. The eyes that roll back as if he's exasperated by something. The mouth that shifts from serious to smile and back to serious so quickly. And the smile that sometimes leads to a light chuckle - even though he doesn't really know how to chuckle just yet. It's like he's got his own private little joke going on.

I hope I never forget the way he stretches when we get him out of his swaddle sacks. His little arms reaching over his head. With fists that are clenched and shake back and forth when he's stretched as far as he can go. That sweet little arch in his back. And his legs that curl up underneath himself until he's ready to stiffen them out straight and strong.

It makes my heart smile when we're driving down the road - just him and me - and I look back in the rearview mirror to see him content as can be just looking out the window and staring in wander at the things he sees outside. Just taking it all in and enjoying life.

And the way he puts his sweet little head on my shoulder when he's tired. With his head facing out, he lets me steal kiss after kiss from the back of his neck. It is priceless. And no matter how many kisses I steal, they still aren't enough.

Sammy and Alex - Three Months

Three months


Two months


One month


Eleven days